Category Archives: Film

Bianca Jagger, with over 42,000 followers on twitter, tweeted “Israel must stop the killing and destruction RT Gaza’s 9/11: Israel destroys highrise building in #Gaza (LINK)” Bianca jagger is enthusiastically invited to join the PACBI’s Call for a Cultural and Academic Boycott of Israel.

By declining the offer, Mira Nair joins a long line of artists and intellectuals — including the Pixies, Roger Waters, Elvis Costello, Alice Walker and Stephen Hawking — who have boycotted Israel in recent years in protest over the government’s policy toward the Palestinians.

Award-winning Indian director Mira Nair has turned down an invitation to be guest of honor at the Haifa Film Festival for political reasons, posting on her Twitter page that she would not visit Israel until “Apartheid is over.”

“I will not be going to Israel at this time,” she tweeted last Friday in the second of five tweets on the subject of Israel. The first tweet announced that she had been invited to the film festival as guest of honor. “I will go to Israel when the walls come down. I will go to Israel when occupation is gone.”

By declining the offer, Nair joins a long line of artists and intellectuals — including the Pixies, Roger Waters, Elvis Costello, Alice Walker and Stephen Hawking — who have boycotted Israel in recent years in protest over the government’s policy toward the Palestinians. The Haifa Film Festival, which opens September 19, will run for ten days. Festival officials wanted to screen Nair’s latest film, “The Reluctant Fundamentalist,” which premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2012.

Nair tweeted three additional messages on Friday. “I will go to Israel when the state does not privilege one religion over another. I will go to Israel when Apartheid is over,” she wrote. Then she added, “I will go to Israel, soon,” but in her fifth and final tweet on the issue that day, she wrote, “I stand w/Palestine for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) & the larger Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) Mov’t.”

Nair is following in the footsteps of another esteemed film director, Ken Loach, who in 2006 declined to attend the Israeli premiere of his film “The Wind that Shakes the Barley” at the Haifa Film Festival. Loach, too, said his decision was meant to protest Israel’s policies, adding that he was participating in the cultural and academic boycott of Israel. British-Jewish film director Mike Leigh, who was supposed to visit in 2010, also called off his visit at the last minute to protest Israel’s policies in the territories.

“In my view, an academic boycott is a sign of weakness and cowardice,” Pnina Blair, artistic director of the Haifa Film Festival, told Haaretz on Sunday. “As I said in the past — and I hold firmly to this opinion — I oppose cultural boycotts of any kind. The Haifa Film Festival is an exemplar of pluralism and coexistence, and our program reflects this approach. The films screened at the festival are chosen solely by artistic criteria. I invite any filmmaker on earth to come to the festival and express his views here, in front of an Israeli audience. By doing so he can promote his goals and opinions, face his opponents with courage and join hands with his supporters.”

Nair, who was born in India in 1957, studied at the University of Delhi and at Harvard. She currently lives in New York. Nair began her film career as an actress, and at a certain stage began directing documentaries. Her first feature film was “Salaam Bombay!” which she directed in 1988. It won the Audience Award and the Camera d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. It was also an Academy Award nominee for Best Foreign Language Film. Her film “Monsoon Wedding” won the Golden Lion Award at the Venice Film Festival in 2001. She also directed “Mississippi Masala” (1991), “Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love” (1996) and “Vanity Fair” (2004).

Her latest film, “The Reluctant Fundamentalist,” which is based on the novel of the same name by Mohsin Hamid, tells the story of a young Pakistani man who works on Wall Street and finds himself caught up in a conflict between the American dream, a hostage crisis and longing for his homeland. It is still unclear whether the film will be screened at the Haifa Film Festival.

Nair tweeted that she stands with the Palestinian campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel. PHOTO: FILE

Internationally-acclaimed film-maker Mira Nair declined an invitation to take her latest film, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, to the Israel Film Festival. She cited the Palestinian call for cultural boycott for her refusal.

In a series of tweets, Nair made the following statement:

“I was just invited to Israel as a guest of honour at the Haifa International Film Festival withThe Reluctant Fundamentalist. I will not be going to Israel at this time. I will go to Israel when the walls come down. I will go to Israel when occupation is gone. I will go to Israel when the state does not privilege one religion over another. I will go to Israel when apartheid is over. I will go to Israel, soon. I stand with the [Palestinian campaign] for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel

Nair, who is the internationally-acclaimed director of Salaam Bombay! and Monsoon Wedding was called for her 9/11-based thriller The Reluctant Fundamentalist (TRF), based on Pakistani novelist Mohsin Hamid’s novel of the same name. The movie was released in Pakistan with Urdu subtitles, titled Changez. She has also been awarded the German Film Award for Peace, The Bridge 2013, for TRF.

The film tells the story of two conflicting ideologies – the “fundamentalism” of the capitalists and that of the terrorists – through a young Pakistani man chasing his American Dream.

Nair will be working along Nobel literature laureate Mario Vargas Llosa and British musician Peter Gabriel in a new film by Mexican director and screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga.

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Indian Star Shuns Haifa Film Fest Until ‘Apartheid’ Ends

Award-winning Indian director Mira Nair has turned down an invitation to be guest of honor at the Haifa Film Festival for political reasons, posting on her Twitter page that she would not visit Israel until “Apartheid is over.”

“I will not be going to Israel at this time,” she tweeted last Friday in the second of five tweets on the subject of Israel. The first tweet announced that she had been invited to the film festival as guest of honor. “I will go to Israel when the walls come down. I will go to Israel when occupation is gone.”

By declining the offer, Nair joins a long line of artists and intellectuals – including the Pixies, Roger Waters, Elvis Costello, Alice Walker and Stephen Hawking – who have boycotted Israel in recent years in protest over the government’s policy toward the Palestinians. The Haifa Film Festival, which opens September 19, will run for ten days. Festival officials wanted to screen Nair’s latest film, “The Reluctant Fundamentalist,” which premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2012.

Nair tweeted three additional messages on Friday. “I will go to Israel when the state does not privilege one religion over another. I will go to Israel when Apartheid is over,” she wrote. Then she added, “I will go to Israel, soon.”

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By JPOST.COM STAFF

07/21/2013 13:26

Mira Nair says she turned down invite to present her new film “The Reluctant Fundamentalist,” in support of BDS movement.

Film director Mira Nair Photo: REUTERS

Award-winning film director Mira Nair has decided to boycott September’s Haifa International Film Festival in protest of Israel’s “Apartheid” policies, she announced on her Twitter account Friday.Nair, originally from India, began as an actress before becoming a director of documentary films and feature films. Her first feature film Salaam Bombay! was nominated for an academy award for best foreign language film in 1988. She subsequently gained fame as the director of such films asMonsoon Wedding, Vanity Fair and Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love. Nair was educated at Delhi University and Harvard.

Nair said Friday that she had been invited to Israel as a guest of honor at the Haifa International Film Festival with her new film The Reluctant Fundamentalist, an adaptation of the Mohsin Hamid novel of the same name which boasts Kate Hudson and Liev Schreiber among its stars

“I will not be going to Israel at this time. I will go to Israel when the walls come down. I will go to Israel when occupation is gone,” Nair wrote.

“I will go to Israel when the state does not privilege one religion over another,” she continued. “I will go to Israel when Apartheid is over.”

Nair tweeted that she supports “Palestine for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) & the larger Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) Mov’t.”

The 29th annual Haifa International Film Festival was set to take place in September. International guests to the festival in previous years have included actors Willem Dafoe, Harvey Keitel, Elliott Gould and Paul Giamatti.

In recent years, a number of prominent artists and academics have planned visits to Israel and then canceled them in response to current events.

Renowned physicist Prof. Stephen Hawking pulled out of an appearance at the President’s Conference in June in support of the academic boycott of Israel. Director Mike Leigh and recording artist Elvis Costello suddenly chose not to come in 2010.

The boycott movement has made increasing inroads in the film-making community, spurred by director Ken Loach, who refused to attend the Haifa International Film Festival several years ago. In 2009, several prominent actors and filmmakers, among them Danny Glover and Jane Fonda, threatened to boycott the Toronto International Film Festival to protest a week of screenings of Israeli films to mark the Tel Aviv centennial.

Jerusalem: Renowned Indian film director, Mira Nair has turned down an invitation to attend Haifa International Film Festival as a guest of honour to protest Israel’s “apartheid” policy.

“I will not be going to Israel at this time. I will go to Israel when the walls come down. I will go to Israel when occupation is gone,” Nair tweeted. “I will go to Israel when the state does not privilege one religion over another. I will go to Israel when Apartheid is over,” the 55-year-old director wrote.

Nair also tweeted that she supports “Palestine for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) & the larger Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) Mov’t.” Nair said Friday that she had been invited to Israel as a guest of honour at the Haifa International Film Festival with her new film “The Reluctant Fundamentalist”, an adaptation of the Mohsin Hamid novel of the same name which boasts Kate Hudson and Liev Schreiber among its stars.

Renowned Indian film director, Mira Nair has turned down an invitation to attend Haifa International Film Festival.

The movie revolves around a Pakistani’s love and subsequent disillusionment with America in the post 9/11 era. The 29th annual Haifa International Film Festival is scheduled to take place in September.

A number of prominent artists and academics have cancelled their planned visits to Israel in the past in response to developments in the region. Renowned physicist Professor Stephen Hawking recently pulled out of an appearance at the President’s Conference in June in support of the academic boycott of Israel.

The award-winning film director Mira Nair has rejected an invitation to attend the Haifa International Film Festival, saying she will only visit Israel“when the walls come down”.

In a series of messages that Nair posted on Twitter on Friday evening, she said she was backing the Palestinian campaign for a cultural boycott of Israel in protest at its 46-year occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza.

She had been invited as a guest of honour at the Haifa festival following the release this year of her latest film, The Reluctant Fundamentalist. “I will not be going to Israel at this time … I will go to Israel when occupation is gone,” she wrote. “I will go to Israel when the state does not privilege one religion over another. I will go to Israel when apartheid is over.”

The 30-year-old Haifa festival, to be held in September, bills itself as Israel’s leading cinematic event. Its website says its home, the Jewish-Arab city of Haifa on the Mediterranean coast, “has become a symbol of coexistence, tolerance and peace, ideals that the Haifa festival wholeheartedly promotes”.

Neither Nair nor the organisers of the festival could be reached for comment yesterday.

Artists, performers and academics routinely come under pressure from pro-boycott campaigners to refuse invitations to visit, lecture or perform in Israel. Nair’s support was “very valuable”, said Samia Botmeh, of thePalestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel. “It helps to highlight the struggle against colonialism and apartheid.”

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Israel commits crime of apartheid: "Inhumane acts of a character similar to other crimes against humanity "committed in the context of an institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination by one racial group over any other racial group or groups and committed with the intention of maintaining that regime."